1st Session. MARINE HOSPITAL AT WHEELING, VIRGINIA. MEMORIAL OF INHABITANTS OF WHEELING, VIRGINIA, Upon the subject of Marine Hospitals on the Western waters. SEPTEMBER 4, 1841. We the undersigned, citizens of Wheeling, your memorialists, beg leave RESPECTFULLY TO REPRESENT: That we have heard, not without some astonishment, that much dissatisfaction has been expressed by citizens of Pittsburg with that part of the report of your medical board appointed under the act of Congress of 1837, which relates to Wheeling as a proper site for one of the marine hospitals, to be erected on the Western waters. Your memorialists would hesitate to trouble you on the subject of such dissatisfaction, were it not that it has been accompanied by some misrepresentations of facts which require to be corrected. A perusal of the report of your medical board will satisfy you that they had good and sufficient reasons for fixing upon Wheeling in preference to any point higher up the river. They state very correctly that Cincinnati would be too near the point at Louisville; and, all other circumstances being equal, Pittsburg is certainly as much too far removed from Louisville as Cincinnati is too near. But other circumstances are not equal, and your board have, with truth, styled Wheeling as the head of navigation during certain seasons of the year. They had good reason to know such to be the fact, since the very boat on which they came to this place, one only of the middling class, was prevented by low water from ascending any higher. In confirmation, however, of this statement, we beg leave to refer you to the subjoined certificate of pilots navigating the Ohio, and also to reiterate some facts, which, in a different form, have heretofore been submitted to your consideration. From them it will be manifest that, during all seasons of the year, the number of boatmen arriving in Wheeling will equal, and at certain seasons of low water far exceed, those arriving in Pittsburg; for it is a notorious fact that all boats ascending the river to Pittsburg make Wheeling a point, and that, on the contrary, many boats arrive at the latter place which are entirely unable to reach the former. Our object in making any statements will be to ascertain as near as possible the whole number of boat men arriving in our port during a succession of years, the numbers annu ally congregated here exceeding those in ports above, and also the numbers at different seasons of the year. To do this it will be necessary to state the number of arrivals and departures of boats from above and below, the number of hands on each boat, and the particular season at which they arriver. As taken from an old file of papers for the years 1828-'9–’30 and 35, they are as follows. The intermediate years are not given, because access could not be had to authentic records on the subject; so far as ascertained, however, they would not vary the result. In 1825 there were 661 arrivals; 381 from below, 280 from above. At a moderate average, the number of boatmen on each boat will be found to be between 20 and 25; taking the lowest number, the aggregate, from steamboats alone, during the year, will amount to 15,640. This aggregate is annually increasing, and, from the best information, will at the present time amount to more than 20,000. In order now to show the number of boatmen annually within our port, above those in ports higher up the river, it will be necessary to note the difference in the number of arrivals from above and below, during such seasons as the navigation was but partly suspended. During the year 1828, there was an uninterrupted navigation, except during eight weeks, from the 17th September to the 5th November. During these eight weeks the number of arrivals from below exceeded by 110 the number from above; being a difference of 15 per cent. Taking the average above stated, the number of boatmen arriving here would exceed, by 2,020, those arriving in ports above. It will be observed here, that the season of low water is that during which sickness is most apt to prevail. We will not weary your patience by enumerating the particulars of each succeeding year, as they would not materially vary the result; it will be proper, however, to remark, that during the entire year of 1835 there was no interruption to navigation, either from low water or other causes; yet, during that year, the number of arrivals from below exceeded by 95 those from above-being about 9 per cent., or one-half the average of former years. Such seasons do not occur more than once in 8 or 10 years; and when they do, they show a large balance in favor of our port. The above facts, set forth by your memorialists, refer only to steamboats. As to keel and flat-bottomed boats, it is impossible to obtain any accurate information; we hazard nothing, however, in asserting that the number of this class of boats which leave from above and below Pittsburg, for this place, will at least equal the number arriving in Pittsburg during any given year. But it has been stated, in order to prove that a greater number of boatmen congregate in Pittsburg than in Wheeling, that the number of boats lying at the former place far exceeds the number at the latter, at any given time. This fact is readily admitted; but it only proves that more boatmen are residents of Pittsburg than Wheeling, and that, when there, they can enjoy the comforts of their own firesides-comforts which they would be very unwilling, even if they had the privilege, to ex change for the wards of a hospital. It is only during their transient state that they require the comforts of a hospital, and we trust that we have adduced facts amply sufficient to prove that, during the year, there are more transient boatmen in Wheeling than in any other port above Cincinnati. We again beg leave distinctly to state that all boatmen ascending the river to Pittsburg must touch at Wheeling on their passage, and that, during many weeks in the year, it is impossible for them to ascend higher. The question resolves itself into this, whether it be easier to transport the sick from Wheeling to Pittsburg, or from Pittsburg to Wheeling. In determining which, there can be no hesitation. All which is respectfully submitted by your memorialists, who would humbly pray that the report of your medical board be confirmed. Depositions of Edward G. Bladen and Samuel Muson. State of Virginia, City of Wheeling, ss. The depositions of Edward G. Bladen and Samuel Mason, taken before Francis R. Armstrong, an alderman of said city, and ex officio a justice of the peace therein. The said Edward G. Bladen and Samuel Mason, having been duly sworn, depose and say that they have been employed in the navigation of the Ohio river for fifteen years and upwards, of which time they have been employed for about ten years as pilots aboard steamboats, when the stage of water permitted their running, and aboard keels when the river was too low for steamboats to run. Deponents consider that, for all practical purposes, the navigation of the river below Wheeling is much better than above, and for the following reasons in particular: 1. That most of the channels between Pittsburg and Wheeling are artificial or excavated channels, very crooked and narrow, and bounded by high stone walls. 2. That the rapidity of the currents is much greater above Wheeling than below, and a less depth of water, at the same stage of the river, and more difficult of navigation, particularly after night, for the reasons above assigned. Deponents further state that they have frequently been aboard steamboats, as pilots, which have come up to Wheeling with considerable freight, and have been unable to go on to Pittsburg; deponents know this to be a matter of frequent occurrence during the low stages of water, and at all seasons of the year. Large boats are now almost daily arriving at Wheeling from below, and returning back, which are unable to proceed up on account of the state of the river and the difficulty occasioned by the ice above Wheeling. Deponents further state that the summer and fall are the most sickly seasons of the year among boatmen, and that during these seasons the river is generally low, and the navigation for steamboats between Wheeling and Pittsburg frequently suspended. Deponents know that supplies for steamboats are obtained at cheaper rates at Wheeling than at any other port on the Ohio river, Cincinnati excepted. They have always considered Wheeling as at least as healthy as Pittsburg. Deponents know that there are a number of very small steamboats employed between Pittsburg and various points between that city and Wheel |